This braided historical novel is remarkable for its very origin story. Julia Malye, a young French writer, did an MFA in the US and spent years crafting two versions of this novel: one in English (published under the title Pelican Girls by Harper), the other in French. To read both is less to read a translation than it is to read an interpretation. For bilingual readers out there, it offers a unique pleasure. Read more.

La Louisiane, a novel by Julia Malye, published by Harper in the US and éditions Stock in France.

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David Diop takes us on an epic Senegalese journey filled with orality, alongside naturalist Michel Adanson, who has come to discover this land and its rich flora. There, he learns the tales and legends of the inhabitants, as well as the mystery and horror that surround the island of Gorée, that much-vaunted ‘door of no return’ for so many men and women.
In a setting as rich as it is deadly, David Diop depicts a love story as splendid as it is tragic, as well as a denunciation of colonial exploitation and the slave trade.

David Diop’s magnificent writing keeps us on our toes from start to finish.

Beyond the Door of No Return by David Diop, FSG. In 2021, David Diop was the laureate of the International Booker Prize.

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You thought you didn’t sleep well? Wait until you read what Marie Darrieussecq experiences on a daily basis!

Insomnia is an affliction that affects writers in particular! In the course of a story or investigation (or quest?) about sleep, the author plunges us into her quest for a peaceful night’s sleep. This book is an opportunity to immerse yourself in the various techniques that exist for falling into the arms of Morpheus.

With the help of documents, anecdotes from writers and her own experience, Marie Darrieussecq gives us the opportunity to learn more about what makes sleep so precious. Sleepless offers a more general reflection on what drives us to sleep, what keeps us awake, what helps us sleep: you may never sleep again, so captivated will you be by this book!

Sleepless, by Marie Darrieussecq, trans. from the French by Penny Hueston, Semiotext(e)

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Pas dormir, de Marie DArrieussecq est publié en France aux éd. POL et Folio.

Jakuta Alikavazovic’s sixth book, Like A Sky Inside (trans. by Daniel Levin Becker, Fern Books) Comme un ciel en nous, is among this fall’s best reads. Responding to an invitation to contribute a piece of writing to the collection, Ma Nuit au Musée (Stock), she takes the opportunity to explore her unique relationship with the Louvre Museum.

The writer spends the night at France’s most famous museum, and for the first time, away from her son, who is only a couple of months old. She knows this place well, having spent numerous Sunday afternoons there with her father, where he never failed to ask: “And you? How would you go about stealing the Mona Lisa?” Comme un ciel en nous is an homage to this man who was passionate about art and beauty; who fled his country during the war in Yugoslavia; and who wanted to view his exile as a second chance – an opportunity to reinvent himself in the city of his dreams. Comme un ciel en nous is a tribute to this charming and funny father capable of putting himself in the shoes of a child, and who chooses optimism as his religion.

This father’s limitless love forms “like a sky in her”, and the author seeks to unravel the mystery. Along the way, she returns to this passion that her father instilled in her: this passion for art history – “a ghost story for grown-ups.” Moving and captivating – an immediate must-read!

Comme un ciel en nous by Jakuta Alikavazovic, éditions Stock, Ma nuit au musée.

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